Basics of Sports Betting. Moving the lines, limiting the bets, and getting alerts when your players bet, are how most bookies manage their online sportsbooks. It’s a great way to manage your business and ensure a growing bankroll. I’ll go over a few ways to help improve your profits, along with some tips you might not have considered before.
Keep the Dollar Amount of the Sports Bet Small
You may think you want your players to make big bets because that means you get bigger payoffs, but that also means you’re more likely to take bigger risks. You want to leave those significant risks to your players. Let them have the excitement and thrill of beating the odds. You have a business to run which needs to make a profit.
It shouldn’t affect your players. They’ve got a certain amount of money they want to bet, so now they can spread it out over more sports, games, wagers, or even casinos. Ideally, your sportsbook software provides the most sports and the most types of wagers, so your bettors don’t have to go to any other bookies.
Whether they’re betting on college football, college basketball, the NFL, the NBA, or any other league, your players want everything available whenever they’re ready to wager. As soon as the odds are available, let your bettors know. If you know their favorite sport, update them on the games, the best odds, and the best lines.
If you know who likes to bet on the underdogs, let them know when you’ve moved the lines for their benefit so they can jump on those bets.
Research Your Bettors
Having a good balance of players that like to go for the underdogs and those that want to bet on the favorites is also an excellent way to help keep your sportsbook balanced. You don’t have to take whatever players you get. If too many of them focus on the favorites, you might have to move your lines too much. If some win too often, you can eliminate them or limit how much they can bet. Or make sure that each time they bet, you either have players to match the other side of the bet or use your layoff account. Make sure your bookie software has a layoff account. They should provide you with all the tools you need to stay profitable.
It’s a little more challenging with futures bets because there are more than just two teams or two players going against each other. You might make more money, but you can also lose a lot. The best way to reduce that risk and ensure you win money is by taking on more bets among the other teams or players (like which team will win the Super Bowl or who will get MVP). You’ll make more winnings in the long run, and your risk will go down.
Being a sports fan is a must for a bookie. But you don’t have to be an expert in every sport. Having a working knowledge of the sports your guys are betting on is always a good idea. You’ll be able to pass on any tips or value bets that come along. But the NFL attracts a lot more viewership and gambling than any other sports, so if you want to be a successful bookie, know the game inside out, the teams, the stats, and all the types of bets, including point spreads, parlays, points scored, and props.
Premium Betting
Most sportsbook software has premium features that you can provide to your gamblers. They are usually for props betting, in-game betting, and live dealers in the casino. You end up making more money when you use these premium options, but it does cost extra to use them. So, to get the most bang for your buck, only give them to your best players – the ones that do more than placing one bet or only a minimum amount.
You can tell them that you’ll only allow premium services if they bet consistently or plan on having a big betting weekend. You don’t want to lose money, so make it a little tougher to enter. Get them interested by giving them a glimpse of what’s in there every once in a while.
